Online forms may appear at pretty much every step of a customer journey. More often than not, customers may not know that they are filling out yet another form.
It makes sense, considering how beneficial online forms are. You do not have to spend money on typography, and then spend hours putting all the answers together and analyzing the data. You can easily get back in touch with form fillers by sending a follow-up email and asking for answers globally.
However, online forms have been overused. We fill out forms for newsletters, account registration, sales contact, ordering and paying, and giving feedback. Not only during buying something we have to fill out numerous fields but on the work as well. Thus, everyone dreads answering the questions and entering data over and over again.
So how can you help the customers or colleagues to go through the process? Can online forms be less dreadful and boring? How do you know what to change in your form?
In this article, you will be able to find out answers to all of the questions. Read and get to know how to optimize online forms for better open and complete rates.
1. Come Up With Benefits
We are all overly busy. With so many tasks and deadlines, you can hardly imagine that someone will fill out an online form just for fun. So you have to basically sell your form to a customer. How?
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Let them know what they will get out of this. Scaring them with what they will lose if they do not fill out the form will not work. Throwing imperatives like “Check out our survey”, “Answer these 5 easy questions” will not do the trick either.
Offer a discount, a promo code, a gift card, or use lead magnets (checklists, reports, video tutorials, etc.) to attract their attention.
2. Experiment With Form Lengths and Other Factors
An average person’s attention span of an average person is 8 seconds, while goldfish can live without distractions for 9 seconds. With instant gratification, messaging, shopping, we lose our patience quickly and we want quick results.
Therefore, the main strategy in online forms (or any forms, really) was to keep them as short as possible. It makes perfect sense: customers will fill out the form with 2-5 questions to get their benefit but 10+ questions are already too much and they will drop it midway.
Yet, can we call it a golden rule? Doubtfully.
In some cases, it did help to increase conversions by shortening the form: Quicksprout managed to get a 50% increase, and Marketingexperiments got a 3,4% boost and cost per lead reduction.
Yet, Michael Aagaard found out that, after shortening the form to 3 questions, he got a 14% drop in conversion. Why so? As he says, he left boring questions. All that can be actually exciting about the form was gone.
This brings us to the point: it is not only the form length that matters. Consider this:
Form type
Is it newsletter signup or feedback form? It is evident that people will just want to enter their names and emails – no dates of birth, locations, zodiac signs. However, they would like to elaborate more on their positive or negative experience in the feedback form.
Benefit
If the benefit is good enough and conveyed in a clear way, people will take the form no matter how long it is (do not go all crazy with 100 questions though).
Kind of information you ask for
People do not like to share very personal information due to data breaches and poor cybersecurity. Try to not intrude in their lives too much.
Types of Questions
If you ask too many open questions or repeat the same strongly agreed to strongly disagree, people will lose their interest immediately.
Question length
Do not put three-lines questions, people will be too lazy to actually read. Try to do more questions but reduce the length of single questions.
There are many other things to consider as well. For example, ask yourself what kind of information do you need? Will 3 questions be enough to get a deep insight into the problem? If not, go for a longer form. Otherwise, there will be no sense in making the survey at all.
So try different lengths out and find a perfect fit for your aim and industry.
If you decided to go for a long-form, try our next tip.
3. Create a Multi-Step Form
A multi-step form breaks down long forms in several pieces, often shown on different pages.
Usually, visitors get overwhelmed when they see dozens of questions on one page and close the form before answering a single question. With a multi-step form, they see 5 questions on a page. It is not hard, right? The next page has 5 questions too, and it is still not hard to answer just 5 questions.
It works like what you do when you have big projects. You can not imagine that you can complete this big task, you have no motivation and procrastinate. So you break it down into small tasks and start doing small steps towards a bigger goal.
For instance, BrokerNotes was able to increase their conversion rates by 35% overnight! Multi-step forms also have a 14% higher completion rate.
Multi-step forms have other benefits, such as:
- variety of data that you can collect
- better quality of data
- better user experience
However, keep in mind that multi-step forms are good when you actually need to get a lot of data and you have many questions to ask. When users know that for this form basic information is enough, they will quit after they see more than 5 questions.
4. Use Different Question Formats
If users see 10 questions with the same multiple-choice of agreeing/disagree/does not apply to me, they will be bored.
There are two possible outcomes: they will continue filling out the form because the benefit was too good (they will remember the bad experience anyway) or they will quit.
In order to avoid such scenarios, spice up your form with different question types:
Multiple choice
It is the classic of online forms: it is easy to just choose an answer and click the button.
Open questions
A customer gets to type a lot. Some often type a “-” just to get the form creators off their backs. However, some may share deep individual insights that are harder to analyze but provide you with top-quality data. Try to not use too many of these.
Drop-down menus
It is quite similar to multiple-choice but mixes them in the form and you will deliver some liveliness and variety in a form.
Ranking
The ranking is perfect for finding out the priorities and preferences of your customers, colleagues, or employees.
Star or smile rating
Star rating helps you to gather feedback.
You may choose question types according to your goals and form type.
5. Consider Your Design
To create high-converting forms, you’ll need to make sure they are as well designed as the rest of your website, so slapping one on simply won’t do.
When choosing the colors, fonts, and general appearance of your forms, make sure you start by considering your website’s overall design, and then design a form that matches it. You don’t want a form that is not one bit like the website it is placed on.
Also, don’t forget that the form needs to stand out in some way, so you might want to think in terms of complementary or contrasting colors, white versus black, black versus white, and so on.
In terms of size, the purpose of your form should be your guide. If it’s an important conversion you’re trying to inspire, make the form larger. On the other hand, if it’s a form that has been reached via another conversion tool (i.e., the contact form on your contact page that has already been reached by someone ready to make contact), you can keep it less prominent and more subtle. In general, you want prominent and important forms to be placed above the fold, while forms of lesser importance can comfortably be located below it.
All of the elements of your form design are subject to A/B testing, so remember that you can always alter the details, including your colors, fonts, and sizes. Design one form you like and take it from there.
6. Consider Adding A Progress Bar
If your company needs a long form to get the most information possible, like questionnaires or surveys, then be sure to implement progress bars into your form design. Progress bars show users exactly where they are in the process of completing the form.
It will be greatly appreciated by users so that they are able to see how much progress they have made and how many questions there are left.
Check out how Function of Beauty handles their hair quiz. This allows users to see how much progress they have made and an idea of when the form will be completed.
A progress bar that shows how far you have come is pretty motivating. Users will see that they have already done so much and their benefit is just around the corner: there is no sense to give up now.
However, there are some additional tips to optimize online forms.
According to SurveyMonkey, it is better to place your progress bar at the bottom and it is better to not indicate how many pages or percent are left. If a customer sees on the first steps that there are 60 questions or 5 pages of a survey to complete, they may get overwhelmed and close the tab of a survey.
7. Use Customer-Customized Forms
Online form creators do everything possible to make the process of filling out quicker, easier, more enjoyable, and less stressful. One of the tactics that are commonly used is conditional logic.
Have you ever filled out the form where you had to click “does not apply to me” in the whole section? You can not skip it because they were the required questions.
It is annoying. Moreover, it makes the form longer unnecessarily.
With customer-customized forms, the next question will depend on the answer to the previous question. If a user says that it does not apply to them, the section will not be shown to them.
8. Insert A Placeholder Text
Placeholder text is a text within the enter field that might give you an example of what the answer should look like or what kind of information you have to fill in. The text disappears as soon as you start to type: a user does not have to delete anything.
Inserting a placeholder in each field can better help users understand what to put in. This is known as “helper text” which provides users with an example of what to type, and can make the whole process a bit easier.
Now this might seem obvious to a lot of visitors on your site, but there are always a few people who might not understand, which is why it’s important to implement this to avoid any confusion or questions.
Overall, it’s going to get the user from one field to the next smoothly and is a great option when designing your online form.
When to avoid a placeholder text
Placeholder text might seem like a good idea: people like getting hints, especially if the form is serious.
The problem is: it disappears after you start typing. By adding placeholder text, you rely on the short-term memory of a customer. If they were not attentive enough or can not keep in mind how many lower and upper cases a password should contain, they will have to delete their answer to look at the hint again. It is annoying and unmotivating.
Moreover, it makes empty fields go unnoticed. It may seem like you have completed the form, and you have to put additional effort into searching for that one empty field. But what about not optional questions? A user will never know that they did not answer the questions and you will probably lose deep insights.
9. Use Forms Analytics To Improve
In order to make experiments with form and question types, lengths more accurate and effective, use form analytics. It will provide you with real-time data. You can use the following metrics:
- total visits (how many times people saw your forms)
- unique visits (how many individuals saw your forms)
- abandonment rate (how many people did not complete the form)
- conversion rate (how many people did complete the form)
- user location
- top devices (desktop, tablets, or smartphones)
You can make better decisions if you analyze the data you receive.
For example, high visits and low conversions mean that the form is too lengthy: consider cutting off some questions or go for a multi-step form.
Low unique visits and high conversion rate mean you have an excellent form but either the placement is wrong or you do not tell everyone about it. You can place your forms in a sidebar, about page, contact page, at the beginning or bottom of any page, or you can send it by email.
10. Be Straightforward & Specific
When developing your form, only ask for the most crucial information. Forms that are too long and tedious will cause visitors to exit out of the form. Keep the fields to around 4 or 5 to prevent users from exiting out, and try to use specific questions to avoid any type of confusion.
Imagescape was able to gain a 120% jump in conversion rates because they changed their contact fields from 11 to 4.
A perfect example of a straightforward support form design is this one from Scribd. They include specific details of what a user might need help with, so the process is smoother and quicker.
Every company is different, and some might need forms to be a little longer. If that’s the case, make sure that each field is as specific and straightforward as possible, you definitely don’t want to lose your visitors’ attention in the first couple of fields.
A simple change to your forms can have a huge impact on conversion rates. So, consider cutting down on the fields, or asking more simple yet straightforward questions so you don’t lose your users attention.
11. Arrange Forms From Easiest To Hardest
Start off your forms with easier information to begin with, like name and email address, before asking for the more time-consuming questions. Users are more likely to add information that’s easily available to them or that they remember, rather than information they would have to go search for, or think a lot about.
Notice how this contact form from Little Words Project starts with the easy information, such as name and phone number, and then the last field is the comment section. This allows the user to ease into the contact form and not get overwhelmed.
Once users have their basic information in there, then ask more in depth questions. Users are more likely to hang around and complete the form because they have already started it and invested their time.
12. Group Together Related Fields
Similarly, it’s important to group together logical fields instead of having everything all over the place. Start with the basics, which include name, email, and birthday. This lets users interpret what is being asked in the form quicker and easier.
Notice how Hirsch & Timber has all of the personal information fields grouped together and in order, with the message being last.
Companies can also add a heading such as “personal information” and “contact information” to separate both sections of the form. Doing this can make it a lot easier for people to understand and feel more comfortable completing.
13. Implement Auto-Fill Browsers
Nowadays, completing form fills is faster than ever, due to Google Chrome and Firefox’s autofill feature. This feature remembers information from past forms and quickly auto fills them into future forms. It’s recommended to title the fields with a term or common attribute so that the browser can recognize it and help speed up the form filling process.
Implementing autofills is a great way to decrease the amount of time users spend on the contact form, which could make them more likely to complete it.
14. Give People A Reason To Complete The Form
Providing users with a reason or incentive to complete the form is a great way to cause excitement. Offer a discount, or a free consultation, or anything that fits your business. By changing the language around your form, you will be able to tell a difference in the amount of people that complete it.
The call to action is one of the most important aspects of your form design, so make it intriguing and eye-catching by using colors that stand out and a design that attracts attention.
Check out this example from Quay Australia, by adding “free shipping” and “activate offer” really changes the way users are going to grasp this form.
15. Use Predictive Searching for Fields With Many Options
Provide predictive searches when asking users questions about their country occupation, or anything that might yield many search results. Predictive searching makes it a lot easier and convenient for users and requires less typing, while also decreasing the amount of time and thought that goes into it.
Notice how on Twitter’s support page, they offer a variety of reasons for why someone would need to report an issue.
Your visitors will greatly appreciate anything that saves up their time, especially when it comes to filling out forms which can be dreaded by many.
16. Indicate Optional Fields
Since users are looking for the most simple, easy to use form that is going to take them the least amount of time, definitely state which fields are optional.
If it’s not clearly stated, users might feel like it’s required and end up exiting out of the form if it is too much. Stating whether the field is optional makes everyones lives much easier, and makes users feel more comfortable.
Some people might not feel comfortable putting their first and last name into a form, so by stating that their last name is optional will avoid any confusion. Keep the number of fields low, with only one or two optional fields involved.
Notice this example from JSMT Media, and how the contact form indicates optional fields with no asterisks. This shows users what information is most important.
A simple asterisk to indicate essential information, or even an “optional” note on particular fields can go a long way.
17. Minimize Clicks As Much As Possible
When filling out a form, it’s easy to get frustrated when you constantly have to move your cursor around and click a bunch of times. Each time this happens, it creates frustration and can become time consuming.
The fewer the clicks, the better. When entering details like a phone number, be sure to make it all one field. A lot of the time, websites will have 3 separate fields for the area code, first 3 digits, and last 3 digits. This will result in users having to click 3 separate fields in order to type in their phone number.
So, set up your forms so that users can enter their phone number in just one field, to eliminate any unnecessary clicking around. Something as simple as this can make a huge difference and can make the user experience run more smoothly.
Another great tip is to ensure that your entire form can be navigated by using the tab key. Many users find it easier and faster to use the tab key, so you’re going to want to make sure that they are able to do that.
18. Make Sure The Form Works On All Devices
You’re going to want to make sure that your form is compatible with other browsers, as well as on mobile devices. You can easily miss out on a large audience of people by not being mobile friendly or compatible with other browsers.
According to statista, around 48 billion dollars are spent on mobile devices, so it’s no surprise that people are using their phones to make purchases and browse the web.
Especially today, people are using their phones more than ever, and if your forms don’t work well on cell phones, you could be missing out on a ton of conversions.
In this example, the contact form is clear and easy to use and read.
19. Consider A Call To Action Design
Make sure that your call to action is clear, not too small, and the right font. If it’s too small, you could risk a user missing it. If it’s too large, it could come off unprofessional or spammy. Consider how the rest of your webpage looks, you’ll want to make it big enough so that your users notice it, but not too big where it looks cluttered.
Notice how Sanuks uses a call to action to get user’s email addresses. This can be used in the future to email users about promotions and important information.
20. Don’t Ask For Unnecessary Personal Information
Online security is a major concern for many people today, and users are more hesitant to put in certain information because they risk their privacy and sensitive information getting stolen.
Asking for too much personal information can take a serious hit on conversions, so you’re going to want to make sure that you’re only asking for information that you absolutely need.
Now, obviously some companies are going to need credit card information if they are selling items. But, it definitely is not necessary to ask for social security numbers or anything else that is not needed.
21. Make Error Messages Clear
Error messages are likely to happen at times if users are not inputting the information properly, but it can be super time consuming if the error messages are not clear.
We have all been there, an error message popping up and the reason why is not clear. It’s crucial to let users know exactly what went wrong and how they can fix it.
Error messages that are unclear can result in added frustration and can evidently lead to a user exiting out of the form. Be sure to make the error message as clear as possible, like the one above, to avoid any added stress and confusion to the user.
22. Emphasize Safety
Some users will be hesitant to share any information with you simply because they are afraid of how you’re going to use it, or that it might end up in the hands of someone they did not intend to share it with.
To alleviate some of these fears, you can add a link to your Privacy Policy at the bottom of your form. You can also dedicate a separate page that details in clear and straightforward language how you deal with the information your customers are providing.
Not only that, but you should also actively ensure that the data you collect is kept safe from malicious individuals and third parties that have no right to view it. Implement clear rules within your own organization as to how this data will be treated. An SSL certificate is always a smart first step in ensuring data safety, but you can, of course, take further than that to make sure all the information you store is protected.
Speaking of security, you might also want to (re)consider your use of captcha, as they have a negative effect on conversion rates. As you certainly don’t want to forgo security altogether, try to find an alternative that ensures your website is spam-free, but without taking up too much of your user’s time when filling out a form.
23. A/B Test Whatever You Can
A/B testing is a term a lot of marketers throw around, and it sounds really complex, yet what it means is testing one element (in this case, a form) against another in order to measure their individual effectiveness.
However, the key is not to design three completely different forms and test them against each other. You need to be much more specific and measure one thing at a time.
Build one form you are happy with and then change just one part of it: the copy, the font, the color, the number of fields, the layout, and so on. Once you find a solution that works, move on to testing the next element, and repeat the process until you get a form that statistically has the best chance of working.
This process will certainly be time-consuming, but it’s worth all the effort as it gives you the highest chances of getting things right. If you are looking for the highest-converting form, A/B testing it is the way to go.
Conclusion
Creating an online form is not as easy as it seems. First of all, you have to make your form attractive by providing benefits, then you have to experiment a lot with forms and question types to keep things interesting.
In order to optimize online forms and make them as simple as possible, you have to consider progress bars, autofill, mobile-friendly design, customer-customized forms, and avoiding placeholder text.
After you have created your perfect online form, you still have to check up on analytics to find room for improvement to keep users engaged.
It might be a bit overwhelming to keep track of all the 10 steps. However, start small and implement tips one by one. At the end of a journey, your conversion rates will skyrocket!
